Amazon Brings Ecommerce to Fire TV and Prepares to Launch Its Own Shopping Channel (GeekWire)
Amazon has quietly rolled out ecommerce functionality on its Fire TV devices, the first step in a broader plan to integrate online shopping and product placement into the on-screen television experience. The test began two weeks ago, and is so far performing above expectations.

The Privatization of Local Search (Street Fight)
Damian Rollison: Local search takes place across services that are proprietary and dedicated toward earning revenue for the companies that run them. But that doesn’t preclude us from thinking of local search as a kind of public utility whose objective is to provide accurate and consistent information. That means treating local listings primarily as a public good, not a business. Paid placement inevitably turns listings into a form of advertisement, and portals that go that route will end up driving users to their competitors.

New Mobile Search Startup Focuses on Apps (New York Times)
Years ago, Vinod Khosla almost bought Google for under $1 million, when it was still basically a research project. Now Khosla is taking another crack at search, backing a mobile search engine called Relcy. The startup, which is focused on apps with an associated action like watching a movie, has been developing its technology for two years but became available to the public Wednesday.

6 Full-Service Social Media Management Firms (Street Fight)
Small business owners have a reputation for being do-it-yourselfers, particularly when it comes to marketing and advertising. But with social spending on the rise, more of those business owners seem to be saying that if they want social media marketing done right, they need a professional to handle the job. Here are six full-service firms operating in the space right now.

Google AdWords Turns 15: A Look Back at the Origins of a $60 Billion Business (Search Engine Land)
AdWords, 15 years old this month, indisputably changed the trajectory of online advertising with its self-serve keyword bidding system and propelled Google to become the multi-billion-dollar business that is now the cornerstone of the holding company Alphabet.

Customers of Dead House-Cleaning Startup Homejoy Are Being Funneled to a Copycat Site (Business Insider)
Homejoy, the cleaning startup that shuttered its doors in August, has apparently awoken from the grave to email its customers about a new partner called Fly Maids, a new company that Homejoy co-founder Aaron Cheung is launching. After a user posted about being taken back to his Homejoy account through Fly Maids, Cheung apologized for using the data he says he acquired from his old company.

Startup Mapbox Makes Big Satellite Imagery Buy to Take on Google, Here Maps (Recode)
Ever search for something on Pinterest in a particular city? Check in on Foursquare? Beneath those apps is a mapping technology layer that enables the app to know precisely where it is. The company behind that layer, Mapbox, just got much better maps, acquiring three million square kilometers of the highest resolution satellite imagery available.

Google vs. the German Car Engineer (Politico)
VW’s “Dieselgate” is not the biggest threat to the future of the proud German auto industry. Silicon Valley is. Germany’s cultural sensitivities about data privacy make for a minefield for German carmakers, possibly stalling their ability to keep pace with their American rivals.